


The Years Pass and They Pass Till Someone Notices

by quietdetective



Category: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (TV 2016), History Boys (2006), History Boys - All Media Types
Genre: BLACKWING - Freeform, David Posner deserved better, Dirk Gently Needs a Hug, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mild Angst, Samuel Barnett has such a lovely voice, Singing, So I'm giving him better, monologues
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-28
Updated: 2019-01-02
Packaged: 2019-09-01 14:13:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16766737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quietdetective/pseuds/quietdetective
Summary: Dirk Gently was perfectly happy to pretend he never went to Cutler's and never met any of the Cutler boys if it meant they'd stay safe, especially after his expulsion from Cambridge. He should've known after finding a piano and a familiar man that the universe had other plans





	1. Bewitched by Boys Who Don't Love the Way That You Want

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [New Could Be On The Horizon](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14921888) by [TheSquiglet](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSquiglet/pseuds/TheSquiglet). 



Dirk looked down at the piano. So many memories came with such a complex instrument, not all bad but not all good either. It had been so long since he had the urge to play, an even longer time since the urge to sing followed along. He was never quite as good as Scripps was on the piano though, so he had no qualms being the singer in their duets. He needn’t wonder what happened to his dear accompanist, having read more than a few of his articles in the papers when he visited England. He tried his best to keep up with all the old boys since he made it impossible for them to do the same for him. Blackwing was more than a little to blame for that however. 

He smiled when he thought of the songs he sung for his classmates, one with his being a naïve teenager in what he thought was love, the one that was singing for the sake of singing, one about an accordionist and lovely hands when he wondered if he could love more than one boy at a time. The time when all the boys joined in for a hopeful journey to their universities, followed by the time they joined to mourn their once dear teacher. 

Dirk played a key on the piano, smiling at the memory of when he began to learn, Scripps teasing and fond exasperation over his inability to remember where to place his hands for the different keys. It was a lot different from his piano teacher when he was young, before Blackwing had come and taken him away. He sat down at the bench, forgetting the case and the people who were surely still around looking for him, and began to play.

“He’s a fool and don’t I know it,  
But a fool can have his charms  
I’m in love and don’t I show it  
Like a babe in arms 

Love's the same old sad sensation  
Lately, I've not slept a wink  
Since this half-pint imitation  
Put me on the blink

I'm wild again  
Beguiled again  
A simpering, whimpering child again  
Bewitched, bothered and bewildered, am I

Couldn't sleep and wouldn't sleep  
When love came and told me  
I shouldn't sleep  
Bewitched, bothered and bewildered, am I

Lost my heart but what of it  
He is cold, I agree  
He can laugh but I love it  
Although the laugh's on me

I'll sing to him  
Each spring to him  
And long for the day when I'll cling to him  
Bewitched, bothered and bewildered, am I

Men are not a new sensation  
I've done pretty well, I think  
But this half-pint imitation  
Put me on the blink

I've sinned a lot  
I'm mean a lot  
But now I'm like sweet seventeen a lot  
Bewitched, bothered and bewildered, am I”

He held the last note, a melancholy feeling falling over him as he thought of the last time he sang this song, hoping that Dakin was doing well. Dirk knew he didn’t exactly deserve all the grief Dakin gave him, but he still had somewhat of a soft spot for the boy. 

“Dirk? I didn’t know you could sing” The voice rang out, breaking the air and rushing Dirk back to the present. No use looking back at memories he couldn’t have back, the boy surely forgot all about the small, Jewish, gay boy from A-levels who crushed on someone who would never feel the same.

“Ah yes, I learnt when I was quite young. Scripps- I mean my friend taught me piano a long time after, pretty sure I drove him half mad with my inability at it. Could never remember where to keep my hands” Dirk replied, looking back at Todd and giving him a smile. Maybe it wasn’t enough, as Todd kept up his concerned look. Dirk didn’t really know the use for the look, being drowned by memories wasn’t nearly as bad when you just missed them. It wasn’t like the Wendimoor case and Priest was trying to lure him back.

“Are you alright? That song was pretty, uh, sad I guess?” Todd shuffled awkwardly, and Dirk smiled. The feeling from his youth was creeping up again but Dirk let it, the fondness for his friend not being any more than that he felt, just fondness. 

“I’m alright. Just a bit dispirited thinking about what I left behind. I was little too reckless I suppose, and didn’t realize the universe wanted me back in America so badly as to let me give away exam answers. Ah, well, it’s all passed now. No use looking back when I can look forward right? ‘Life moves forward. The old leaves wither, die and fall away, and the new growth extends forward into the light.’”   
Dirk stood up, deciding now was the perfect time to start following the universe once more, the peeling of old wounds too much to bear now that Todd was looking more lost than ever. Dirk didn’t tell lies to Todd this time, this time it was just him not telling anything at all. It seemed this was working till Todd decided he needed more info.

“So uh, your friend, the one who taught you piano, where are they now? They aren’t dead or anything right?” Todd seemed to realize this was a bad way to word things the second after he said it “Wait no, I didn’t mean to say it like that. I meant do you still talk to them?”

“That’s a bit obvious Todd. I don’t, I burnt the bridges too well for that. After being kicked out of Cambridge I decided I needed to leave England. My friends there would’ve looked for me, at least I like to believe they did, so I did the reasonable thing and changed.” Once he was Svlad Cjelli, the next Project Icarus, then after that he was David Posner. David was probably his favourite, however angsty he was over unrequited love. When David was expelled and left England he became Dirk Gently. He could never be one person for more than a few years. Dirk didn’t need to reveal so much, it was just so easy to fall back into David, open and innocent to the cruelty of the world. The mask was just what he needed after years of abuse from Blackwing only to be thrown into a school alone in England. The boys found him trying to figure out how to get to classes and adopted him. He was by far the youngest. 

“Dirk what are you talking about? I thought you spent most of your teenager years with Blackwing?” Todd asked, seeming to take a second to not blow up like he would’ve before, now knowing how much pain Dirk hid away to stay an eccentric detective.

“I did, I only went to England at 16, I was in Blackwing for 10 years at that point. I stayed there for about 6 years before moving back. I was nearly finished my degree and I suppose I couldn’t become a teacher or much else.” Dirk’s tone was more than a little sarcastic, still hurt over the realization he couldn’t be more than what the universe wanted. “The universe wants what it wants and I don’t get much of a say in it. The boys lives are probably better now they don’t have to watch over me.”

“Hey wait there mister. I’m sure those boys cared about you as much as you cared about them. Or at least partially. I’m sure they’d hate to hear you speak so lowly of them, maybe they’re still out there wondering where their friend is? If you just vanished suddenly I’m sure I’d wonder, hey wait I do know. With me it wasn’t voluntary but how much do you think it hurt to find you suddenly gone? Especially after what happened, you got expelled?” Todd furrowed his eyebrows at this bit of information, “Wait you were in Cambridge? And got expelled for giving out answers?”

Dirk sighed “Can we just go back to the case? I would really rather not look back at my past screw ups.”

“No no no. You were the one who decided to drop all that shit, you gotta finish with it.”

“I’d really rather not- hey wait. Is that a purple alligator?” 

“Haha very funny, I’m not falling for that shi- oh shit it is”

“Lets go”

And they ran off, conversation forgotten for now.

If only one Donald Scripps hadn’t been wondering down the street in Seattle looking for inspiration only to be run into by a man who looked so much like an old friend it hurt.

“Posner?”

“Shit.”


	2. Inwhich Revelations are Made and You Gotta Trust a Detective

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nothing is truly explained but David Posner has changed his name and Donald Scripps might be having his brain beaned.

What do you do when you see a friend you’ve thought has been dead for years? How about if you run right into him and years upon years of fond memories come rushing back as you look down at him, his eyes still wide and blue, though not quite as naïve as he remembered.

“David?” 

Donald Scripps decided the best method to figure out this problem is to hug the man he knows as David Posner, the boy who had a crush on Scripps’ best mate and had no problems showing it to the world. He would hug him till he woke up from this dream. He would not think of the empty apartment and the disappointing response from the police, the lack of follow up when Posner didn’t respond to any of them. He would enjoy this contact forever, at least this was what he truly believed till he heard a man cough behind him.

“Okay, but what the fuck? Who are you? How do you know Dirk? And lastly, let go of him you creep!” The man roughly shoved Scripps off, Scripps too surprised to fight back, turning to Posner to check if he was okay. The weirdest thing happened though, the man called him Dirk and he responded! Scripps was beginning to doubt himself a tad, though he was fairly positive still due to the uncanny resemblance between Posner and this Dirk, as well as the look of recognition that was painted on Posner’s face.

“Shit” Posner said, staring at Scripps. “Shit, shit, shit. No this was not supposed to happen! You were never meant to be here! Why the fuck are you in America anyway? You’re a journalist in England! The only one who might even have had the chance of finding me was Dakin and he would never bother!” 

“What the fuck were you doing?! Where the fuck did you even go? One day we head over to your flat and everything is in disarray! One minute we hear rumours that you sold exam answers and the next you’re long gone?! The fuck has gotten into you David? If you needed help you could’ve just come and talked to us! You don’t have to do everything on your own!” Scripps shouted, feeling tears start to crop up into his eyes, staring at the youngest of their friends, the one who needed the most protecting. David was always an odd one, going off on his own and coming back with a lost dog, wandering off and ending up witnessing some weird crime. None of it ever made sense, but the boys always just accepted David was like that.

David was the youngest, he was small, he was Jewish, he had a crush on Dakin, and if you wanted something weird to happen just hang out around him, or better yet follow him when he wandered. 

Nothing was making sense to any of the men, besides perhaps Dirk. He knew the universe had something to do with this twist in events, though he couldn’t think of why Scripps had to be involved. Dirk never wanted to pull the other boys into the bullshit the universe pulled him into. It’s why he never had an assistant before Todd, even though he was fairly sure the other boys would’ve humoured him as an assistant. The threads were making about as much sense as usual, which meant they were of no help till Dirk had most of it spelt out in front of him.

“David!”

“Dirk!”

Oh, he should probably explain the situation to the two other men, since it definitely involved both of them.

“Okay, so, huh. I’m actually not too sure how to explain this. So, Todd, I went to Cambridge which is in England correct? Those six years? I spent about 3 in a school called Cutler’s Grammar School, and I was one of the highest graded students which meant I was up for Oxford or Cambridge. My friends and I managed to get in, but through various breakdowns of varying severity due to many things, I sold exam answers for some money. I didn’t know they would all be correct of course, but they were, and I was thrown in jail for supposedly stealing the exam answers. I can only assume it was Blackwing that bailed me out, and after that I returned to America since that was where the universe was pulling me. 

“Now, Donald, I am in fact David Posner, despite the new name. There are many loose ends here that I don’t think I have enough time to explain, but the basics are that I have a varying degree of success in completely guessing the correct thing and following the universe where I am supposed to go. I know this sounds super implausible, but please hang with me. There must be a reason as to why you are here with us now, despite not being able to find me for years I can assume. Now if I could figure this out then you can go back to your everyday life, but currently I regret to inform you that you are now involved with the case.” David told him. David looked mildly scared, as if he didn’t know what to expect as his reaction, which was fair.

The explanation barely explained a thing of course, as Donald Scripps never encountered anything like this before. Sure, he read some stuff about it, there was that odd incident a year ago with Patrick Spring, some rich American philanthropist that Scripps had to write an article on. Which now that he thought about it, definitely screamed David. 

“Look, I don’t expect you to believe me right away, but I really need you to trust me on this one. We need to leave now,” David started to walk away, the other man called Todd following behind him, though Donald could hear a faint whisper of words coming from the man. He didn’t doubt Todd was also questioning David, since he definitely hadn’t mentioned his Cutler days to the man. Donald could barely believe that he took on a new name as well. 

Dirk Gently. He supposed it fit the man well enough, a weapon with the contradictive statement of gentle. If David chose a new name, Dirk Gently was as good as it could get for this mysterious boy. 

As it stood, there was only one way for answers to come, and that was to follow his old friend into the abyss. He just hoped that he didn’t lead them to their collective doom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the lack of song singing! It just didn't really fit with the story at the moment. I am still working out the story tbh. I hope you enjoyed though! I am working on a separate Dirk Gently story however, one about a diamond heist and rollar blades :)

**Author's Note:**

> Guess who has a new obsession? Samuel Barnett has such a nice voice I'd recommend looking some up. I really love the idea of Dirk being taken to Cutler's for some experiment or something by Blackwing, it'd certainly explain the accent.


End file.
